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Robert Frederick
Robert Frederick, often called Bobby by his friends, is an orphan who used to live at Grunn's Orphanage for a long time before leaving. It was recently revealed that like Viriathus, he joined Troika as a soldier. Appearance Robert resembles that of a feline-Dreamkeeper, having almost a cheetah/lynx design with yellow fur, however having blue spots all over his body. He also has dark-blue highlights around his eyes, muzzle and on the tips of his ears; as well as a small tuft on top of the light-blue end point of his tail. During the prelude, he wore a white t-shirt under a brown-open jacket with dark-colored sleeves, and brown pants with various patches sewned on. After joining Troika, he started to wear the standard soldier jacket while also wearing a belt around his waist. During the infiltration of Sabatton Towers he wore a blue-casual business suit as a disguise for a CCA investigator. Bobby has slightly shorter hair in the graphic novels like a soldier than in the Prelude comics. Personality Being the oldest, Robert is generally seen as a role-model to the other orphans for being the one to look after them or help them out at times when he's around. Although most of the time he tends to be in the city, away from everyone in order to be with his girlfriend instead of working. While his efforts are often appreciated by his peers, he often lands himself into a bit of trouble, whether it be doing other's chores by himself or receiving a beating from Grunn. Also, being the oldest, means that other adults would see him as like a teen parent when he's around them. Robert believes in helping others because it is the right thing to do, despite how often bad things happen to him. At one point he questioned his own beliefs after failing to help the orphans shutdown Grunn's orphanage and receiving a late child support payment bill on the same day, but was able to recover when Mace had similar guilt issues at the time. While being like a big-brother to all the orphans, given all he does for them, he seems to be especially close with Mace. Generally being seen around him more often during his appearances, their attitudes tend to bounce off each other whenever Mace gets into trouble or is depressed about something, causing Robert to give some advice or aide him in a certain task. He's also formed a somewhat rough but otherwise mutual relationship with Viriathus who seems to be aware of what he tends to do most of the time and often uses violence to berate him for screwing up. Even after joining Troika, their relationship is about as mutual as in the Prelude though she hates to admit that despite him possibly being lower-rank than her that he knows better. Like all the other orphans, Robert does not want to mess with Grunn, knowing full well of the consequences he'd bring on himself for upsetting or disobeying him. Given the state of the orphanage was in he was even willing to try and get the place shut down, only to question how someone like Grunn was able to keep it from doing so. Since joining Troika, it isn't known if he understands that it's because he's also in the organization and his orphanage is a safehouse, or if his viewpoint on Grunn as a whole has changed. History Past It isn't known when and how long Robert has been an orphan, but being one of the oldest along with Viriathus, they would continue living at Grunn's Orphanage, mostly as extra aide for Grunn since they are old enough to leave at their own leisure but would need some revenue. Robert would also acquire a girlfriend, who he tends to be secretive about regarding his friends as well as at least one thing he did involving her. Prelude In Robert's first appearance in the series, he noticed the Konkord Twins doing Mace's chores after Grunn forced them into doing it. Robert offered to help until Mace came back but they ended up leaving him to find Mace themselves. After dinner he found Mace tied to the mast of the ship and asked if he learned anything from this experience, that which being "don't get caught". Mace asked him to untie him though Robert denied his request, saying he already did him a favor by doing his chores. Later that night, he lightly used his Power to look at a photo of his girlfriend before being interrupted by Mace and Whip, who ask about what that glow of light was before diverting the question to something else. Sometime after, Robert and his girlfriend were near the beach when they spotted Mace trying to come up with a way to get back at Grunn. When she asked about seeing kids on the beach, Robert denied it and offered to take her somewhere else.Prelude Strip #88 The day after he spotted the other kids taking part in the plan and immediately went back to the city. He would return the following day only to be kneed in the gut by Viriathus for not being at the orphanage the previous night to tell the orphans a bedtime story or help them bring the boats in after they were swept away by the tides. After hearing of Grunn's drunken rage that night, Robert decided to take matters into his own hands and tried to convince Grunn to shut the orphanage down. This would end with Robert being slugged in the face and Grunn threatening to "piledrive an orphan inter thuh outhouse" if they didn't clean the dock . After that exchange, Robert decided to take all of the orphans (except Mace, Whip and Viriathus) to the district social center in an effort to shut down the orphanage through the legal system. While there, Robert would be mistaken as a teen parent and have trouble going through the legal system. He received aide from a parent who offered to help see someone with him if he would pretend to be the father of her child. Robert accepted, and he was able to meet someone to inform them of the problems at the orphanage. However upon learning the address, he was turned down. When Robert refused to leave he was escorted out by security. After returning to the orphanage, he was confronted by Viriathus, who kicked him in the gut and yelled at him for being past due on child support payments he received a bill for. Upset how things weren't going well for him despite what he's been doing, he stormed off to find Mace, thinking about how he's been letting people down, including his girlfriend. Noticing Whip behind him, he soon found Mace, grieving for having killed a bird he tried to rescue. He told him that if he's only helping to avoid feeling guilty, that be selfishness, while focusing on what he wants he'll get resentful when it doesn't work his way. Otherwise he says to help people because it's right. Mace then told him about a rock he found that he threw out into the ocean and Robert offered to help find it. Mace thought it'd be impossible in the dark, but then Robert activated his Power, illuminating the area and the two began searching out in the water. They were unsuccessful, though when they returned to the other orphans they admitted they had fun. He then went outside with Viriathus and he ended up revealing that before being thrown out by security, he noticed that the orphanage was blacklisted for some reason; and he believed that Grunn was in on it somehow. Sometime later, he and the other orphans planned out a way to figure out why their lives are miserable; when suddenly Viriathus barged in, completely flabbergasted over what she had seen. She was so spooked she slammed her fist into a table, breaking her hand. As they asked what was wrong, she told them that Grunn was not wearing any pants and had decided to never wear them again. As Narp ran away in fright, Robert asked to see her hand to see about healing it, however Viriathus decided to leave for "school" before she could get involved with anything else. Robert soon confronted Grunn about the lack of pants, asking why he ever thought of doing this, and Grunn explained, more or less, that wouldn't need to wash them and just thought there was no point in wearing them to begin with. Robert then tried to force him to wear his pants before giving up to go to his day job. Mace decided to tag along, being carefree and wanting to play with a cloak he found. He tried to get settled while Mace fooled around with another worker, however his supervisor told him not to punch in as he was going to lay him off for some reason. Robert then left, upset over what happened while Mace followed, unaware of what just happened. In-Between At some point Paige joined the orphanage, and then he and Viriathus would stop visiting the orphanage (presumably) after they learned about Troika in order to become members just like Grunn before them. Volume 4 Chapter 10 - 12 Shortly after Viriathus finished some training with the new recruits, Robert arrived after overhearing her talking with Scinter about possibly bringing them on the upcoming mission with them. He supported her decision not to bring them along as they weren't combat ready, which annoyed her that he butted in. He then switched into a business suit while instructing the three about how they will be viewing their progress through the data scrolls. Later, inside the tower, the group was forced into going into the Foundation as their targets have moved there instead. After a scuffle with security the went deeper into the caverns below. They eventually encountered Tinsel and Tendril together and they tried to dart her, but the two escaped. Eventually the group arrived inside the Lost Archive where the kids have been and run into Namah, who they save from Tendril after a short fight with him. He told her they were allies of Igrath and showed her the Troika mark on his shirt, even saying that Mace can vouch for them. They soon capture Tinsel after stopping her from killing Lilith and Bast and hands Whip an orb of light to find Mace with. With everyone secured they try to get an extraction point set up but are so deep they have trouble doing so, while at the same time continuing to deal with Tendril. They were saved by Igrath who held off Tendril long enough for a telepad to be set up and escape back to base. As everyone settled down to recover, Mace tried to approach him, though Robert told him they would have to catch up later. He was later seen sleeping in the medical room. Equipment Modular Midrange MK III: A standard-use springer rifle commonly used by Shock Troopers and members of Troika, Robert was seen using it while fending off against Tendril. Power and Abilities Light Generation: While active, Robert has the ability to create orbs of light of various sizes, aiding him with simple tasks like reading in the dark or finding things out in the ocean to illuminating dark caverns for his allies to see. He has had this Power since he was in the orphanage and overtime has developed it enough to where he can maintain the light for a good amount of time, though prolonged use of it can cause his Power to short out. In the first Mace and Whip story arc, when Robert used his Power his halo was barely visible; however during the fourth Mace and Whip story arc, he could produce a much larger sphere and his halo being fully visible. He is also capable of sharing fragments of his light with others to hold.Volume 4 Chapter 12 Trivia *Robert's full name was shown in Prelude Strip #256, though part of his first name wouldn't have been said until #347. *Robert has had very few appearances in Prelude until the fourth Mace and Whip story arc. He since been a major recurring character who has had story arcs centered around him. *Robert has started out his own life away from the orphanage, but still returns to check up on the orphans. *Robert is the first Prelude character to use a Power outside of the main story. Quotes *(to himself, usually) "Nope." *(to Mace) "If you're only helping to avoid feeling guilty-well, that's a kind of selfishness. You're focusing on what you want, and you'll get resentful when it doesn't work out."Prelude Strip #427 References Navigation Category:Dreamkeepers Category:Prelude Characters Category:Males Category:GNS Characters